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This intricate model was created by Walt Disney Imagineering—every color, carving and carefully constructed detail will be larger than life in this unbelievable exterior, described as a “warehouse, fortress-like power plant” by Joe Rohde, Portfolio Creative Executive Walt Disney Imagineering. Designed to be just as stunning at night as it is during the day, the fortress is both intimidating and incredible, sinister and spectacular—which makes it the perfect location for The Collector to keep the Guardians of the Galaxy, his newest acquisitions.
Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! is an epic new adventure combining the free-fall guests know and love with all new effects, including music from the Guardians of the Galaxy film soundtrack, and a randomized ride experience!
See more images of the model below and stay tuned to D23 for more exciting Disney news and updates.
It’s not a midnight ride, but that herald surely reflects the enthusiasm of Muppets fans everywhere who are as thrilled as we are at the thought of the newest show at Magic Kingdom Park—The Muppets Present… Great Moments in American History—which made its debut at Magic Kingdom Park’s Liberty Square on October 2.
The show—which can be seen several times daily—is peppered with fun historical facts as the Muppets share their own inimitable interpretations of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the midnight ride of Paul Revere. James Silson, one of the show’s directors, explains, “Everyone tries their hardest to present a truthful show of history but ultimately get it wrong in a lot of places. Partly right but mostly wrong.”
Lucky for history buffs, however, James “J.J.” Jefferson—no relation to Founding Father Thomas Jefferson—is on hand to provide real historic facts. Show Director Tara Anderson says, “He’s going to stroll around before the show starts and get to know people and talk to them about all the wonderful history that’s out there in Liberty Square: the replica of the Liberty Bell, the Liberty Tree, the stockades—why were people in stockades? J.J. can tell you this.” She observes, “He’s kind of our resident history geek, if you will—but in a very cool way.”
Tara mentions that her hope is that people are inspired to find out more about American history. “If one kid comes away saying, ‘Hey, I want to know more about Thomas Jefferson or Benjamin Franklin,’ it’s great!” she says.
The creative team at Walt Disney World Resort worked closely on the show with Muppet Studios and the Muppet performers. The show features mile-a-minute humor, brand-new music (including a song, “Great Moments in History,” written by Valerie Vigoda and Brendan Milburn, who also composed the new songs heard in Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire on the Cinderella Castle Forecourt Stage), and all of your favorite Muppets clad in fantastic period costumes. James reveals, “Piggy is extremely particular about her fashion and what she wears, and she couldn’t do a show without multiple costume changes.”
There’s something for everyone in this outdoor show, which James and Tara think will bring a wonderful energy to the Liberty Square area. “It’s just an absolute delight,” Tara enthuses. “You’re going to see its appeal to everybody—across generations—because the Muppets have such a wonderful history.”
James, who, like Tara, is an undeniable Muppets fan himself, points out, “The first time you see the Muppets pop up and appear in Liberty Square is one of the most magical experiences you’ll ever have. They’re there, seemingly within arm’s reach of you, and that’s something I think most Muppets fans desire and they never get the chance to do. But there they are right in front of you in Liberty Square.”
The Muppets Present… Great Moments in American History is presented multiple times daily. Visit WaltDisneyWorld.com for the most up-to-date schedules and information.
The old adage “when one door closes another opens” proves true in the case of Disney XD’s new series Milo Murphy’s Law, premiering tonight at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The show comes from creators/executive producers Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh—the masterminds behind the bestest, longest summer ever on Phineas and Ferb, which ran for 10 years before ending in a special finale episode last year. It was during Dan and Swampy’s final days on that blockbuster series that they hit upon the idea for the new show and its title character—who Dan declared from the start to be “indefatigably optimistic.”
For Milo Murphy, doors opening and closing are likely to lead to trouble—it’s literally in his DNA, as the great-great-great-great grandson of the Murphy’s Law namesake, who was the first to be afflicted by EHML (Extreme Hereditary Murphy’s Law), the idea that anything that can go wrong… will go wrong. Milo prepares for every possibility, however, and faces adversity with boundless optimism, fearless friends, and a backpack full of supplies. The more that things go wrong for Milo, the more they go right for Disney fans.
Milo is voiced by legendary satirist and Grammy®-winning recording artist Al Yankovic (who you may know by his professional moniker, “Weird Al”), and the cast includes such notables as Sabrina Carpenter (Girl Meets World) and MeKai Curtis as best friends Melissa and Zack; Ming-Na Wen (Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Christian Slater, Vanessa Williams, Sarah Chalke, Jemaine Clement, Pamela Adlon, and Dan and Swampy themselves (voicing the mysterious-sounding roles of “pistachio protectors from the future”).
The series began—as all animation does—with a single sketch, of Milo. Dan shared with Swampy the drawing of the middle schooler, and the two started talking about what a show centered on a character with such a positive outlook could be. “We sat down and, in literally less than an hour, we had the whole concept of the show and the story for the pilot,” Dan remembers, adding, “This [story] is about optimism in the face of enormous odds.”
Like Phineas and Ferb before it, Milo Murphy’s Law features a catchy theme song—sung by Al Yankovic—and a host of songs that take advantage of the vocal talent found in the cast. “We realized years ago that we’re physically incapable of creating shows without songs,” Swampy admits. And Dan adds, “We can say this: Not every single episode has a song in it, but I’ve just counted how many episodes we have and we have more songs than episodes.”
Milo Murphy’s Law will be more serialized than Phineas and Ferb was, Dan and Swampy explain, which provides an opportunity to tell a variety of stories. Swampy observes, “It’s a whole different challenge. It makes us look at it as a big picture, which we never really had to do on Phineas.”
“It requires a lot more index cards stuck on the wall,” he jokes.
Both Dan and Swampy believe that fans of Phineas and Ferb will embrace Milo, and they’re keeping those viewers in mind as they create this new series. “We’ve been throwing some ideas around, to do little nods to the Phineas fans,” Swampy says.
In another nod to the Phineas fans, Dan and Swampy recorded a follow-up to their popular 2011 rap music video Animatin’. Enjoy “We’re Gonna Do It Again” below, and watch Dan and Swampy do it again on Milo Murphy’s Law, Monday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Disney XD.
For the 999 Happy Haunts of Disneyland Park’s Haunted Mansion, the spooky season is always in high gear. But most of us don’t kick into full ghost-and-goblin mode until October—and Disney XD has given us something to shriek about this morning. They’ve teamed up with Walt Disney Imagineering and the renowned stop-motion studio Stoopid Buddy Studios on a series of four spots that bring favorite characters from Star vs. The Forces of Evil and Pickle and Peanut into the world of the Haunted Mansion attraction.
The first spot can be seen tonight during the premiere episode of Milo Murphy’s Law (8 p.m. ET/PT), but we’re giving you a first look at two of the spots in this exclusive sneak peek. As with all of Princess Star Butterfly’s adventures, it’s gonna get a little weird… it’s gonna get a little wild… but it’s going to be hauntingly authentic. All of the music and sound effects you’ll hear in the spots come from the original Haunted Mansion at Disneyland Park, and the voices of the Haunted Mansion characters are the actual attraction voices, as well. Disney XD worked closely with Walt Disney Imagineering to feature details fans of the attraction will surely appreciate, from the tombstones seen in the graveyard—which are modeled after those seen at Disneyland—to the original character created just for these spots, Baby Boo. This is Baby Boo’s official debut—or should that be “de-boo”?—and you can only catch him in this spot, but the character was inspired by an original drawing for the attraction by legendary animator (and, of course, one of Walt’s Nine Old Men) Marc Davis.
In the spot that airs tonight, Star and Pony Head stumble into the wrong dimension and disturb Madame Leota from her restful trance:
Next Monday, October 10, during a Halloween-themed episode of Pickle and Peanut (6:30 p.m. ET/PT), Pickle and Peanut search for their lost keys in the famous Haunted Mansion graveyard, where they meet brand-new ghost Baby Boo and the infamous Hatbox Ghost. If that feels like an eternity to wait, fear not—we have a sneak peek here:
The Grim Grinning Ghosts will be coming out to socialize on Disney XD throughout October. Ezra the Hitchhiking Ghost makes an appearance in the short that premieres during a Halloween-themed episode of Star vs. The Forces of Evil on October 10 (7:30 p.m. ET/PT); while Pickle and Peanut stumble upon Constance the Bride in the short that can be seen in an all-new episode of Milo Murphy’s Law on October 17 (8 p.m. ET/PT).
Since Walt Disney World opened on October 1, 1971, millions have visited to experience the “most magical place on Earth.” We’ve already shared some of our favorite photos from the past 45 years, and in celebration of the 45th anniversary of Walt Disney World, we asked Disney fans to share their favorite magical memories.
“My first trip to Walt Disney World was January 2016 and I got to finally meet the characters from my favorite movie—Beauty and the Beast—while I was dressed as Belle. But the highlight of my trip was being honored with a dance alongside the master of the castle. I was so overjoyed! That was truly my most magical moment!”––Brittany Davis
Chris’s family has celebrated decades of Disney magic! The photo on the left shows Chris’s mother, his brother, and himself, circa 1980. Chris’s wife and their two sons pose for a similar picture in 2011.
“I snapped this of my daughter Megan while we waited for the Main Street Electrical Parade! It was on her birthday—nothing like spending your special day at the Magic Kingdom. Looking forward to many more years of Disney celebrations!”––Christine P.
“My very first trip to Walt Disney World was my senior year in high school during spring break. On our first day we went to Magic Kingdom and got there early for the opening, walking in with all the characters from the train. To say I was excited was an understatement. We finally reached the end of Main Street, U.S.A. and I immediately went to get a shot in front of the castle, arms up, big smile, the happiest I could ever be…. until I felt two people pop up beside me. I looked and it was Jasmine and Aladdin! Those two characters have a special place in my heart, and by my expression you can see how excited I was. My face was in a permanent smile for the rest of the week, thanks to that moment, and it still makes me happy to this day, just thinking about it! Disney is such a magical place and will always be my home away from home” ––Lauren Holcek
“Thanksgiving holiday, 1971—My parents read about this new park Walt Disney built in Orlando. ‘Would we like to see it?’ I remember taking a long bus ride from the airport to our hotel, The Polynesian Resort, and passing by all the shrubs cut to look like our favorite Disney characters. It was like being transported to another land. But then, the moment we stepped into the Magic Kingdom… Wow! We had never been to a place so magical. Flash-forward from my first visit to the Magic Kingdom to 2005. We came to celebrate our daughter’s fifth birthday. As parents, it is absolutely heartwarming to see and experience Walt Disney World through our baby’s eyes. Magical, indeed! Happy 45th Birthday, Walt Disney World!”––Leslie Lim
“The night my fiancé proposed to me aboard the Grand 1 yacht, cruising along Seven Seas Lagoon whilst Wishes was behind us. Truly the most magical night of my life!”––Louise Jones
“Me and my dad in ToonTown! Around 1990. My very first visit and what sparked my Disney obsession. Now my family are passholders and we enjoy Walt Disney World as much as we can!”––Madison Beauchamp
“We were chosen to lead the afternoon parade in 2010. A once-in-a-lifetime magical moment!”––Michele Pope
“Throwing it back to my first time at Disney when I was six months old. Now 20 years later, my Dad and I continue with our tradition of taking a picture in front of Cinderella’s fountain every time we visit Disney. This past time, I was lucky enough to take this picture as a Disney Cast Member!”––Rachael Repplinger
“Mickey is the greatest thing ever! When it came my time to meet him, he reached out to embrace me, and he said, ‘It’s been too long, pal.’ This 55-year-old man was a little boy again. I just cried. Everyone should have a few moments with Mickey and maybe there wouldn’t be as many problems in the world. I took this one of Mickey and my sons last September.”––Tim Burgess
Note: Submissions may have been edited for length and/or clarity.
Few moments in animation linger in the mind as vividly as the ballroom sequence in Beauty and the Beast. The seamless combination of music (“Beauty and the Beast,” sung by Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Potts), hand-drawn animation (Mrs. Potts, Chip, Lumiere, Cogsworth, Belle and the Beast), and computer technology (the ballroom environment) leaves an indelible mark on the viewer; both Belle and the Beast’s deepest emotions are revealed, though neither says a word. It’s filmmaking at its finest and is but one of many reasons Beauty and the Beast was nominated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for Best Picture of 1991.
25 years after its release, Beauty and the Beast and its remarkable ballroom remain “ever a surprise.”
A key component of the ballroom sequence was its unprecedented use of computer-generated imagery (CGI) to create the magnificent splendor of the marble ballroom. Though the ballroom is on screen for less than a minute-and-a-half, its impact is such that we remember the scene lasting much longer, a fact quickly latched onto by Disney marketing which made the ballroom a touchstone image in promoting the film.
Walt Disney was always looking for opportunities to incorporate new technologies into his creations. He convincingly added sound, color, and dimensionality to the vocabulary of animation. With Fantasia (1940) he presented multi-channel audio reproduction, dubbed Fantasound, which allowed the music of The Philadelphia Orchestra to swirl around the theater in choreographic synchronization with the action on the screen. For conveyances as diverse as Stromboli’s carriage in Pinocchio (1940) to Cruella de Vil’s Duesenberg in One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) live-action models were photographed on film, with the resulting images combined with character animation and transferred to cels, anticipating computer animated vehicles to come in films such as Oliver and Company (1981), The Prince and the Pauper (1990), and Rescuers Down Under (1990). To this day, Feature Animation continues to explore new frontiers in technology and how they might better serve the storyteller’s art.
By the time of Beauty and the Beast Disney animators were looking for the opportunity to create a completely computer-generated environment, rendered entirely within a computer, in which they could place hand-drawn heroes, heroines, and villians. (They were no doubt encouraged and challenged by the groundbreaking all-CG shorts being produced and directed by John Lasseter at a new company christened PIXAR.) Several fortuitous events led to a breakthrough on Beauty and the Beast.
Prior to the making of Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), shooting live-action footage that was intended to have animation added to it meant that the opportunity for sweeping camera moves ranged from limited to non-existent. Most of the time the live-action camera was locked down to insure a stable scene in which animated characters could interact with their human counterparts. But when it came time to shoot the live-action footage for Roger Rabbit, animation director Richard Williams told director Robert Zemeckis to move the camera however he liked and it would be up to the animators to match the onscreen action. Though this resulted in what was often an arduous task for the animators, the final product was so thoroughly convincing that it raised the bar for all combination animation/live-action films to come. It also opened the door for previously untried ways of staging camera moves in animation.
At this same time, Roy E. Disney’s encouragement of new technologies in animation helped usher in the development of the Computer Animation Production System (CAPS). Begun at Lucasfilm and completed at PIXAR, CAPS made cels and animation cameras obsolete. Using CAPS, animators’ drawings could be scanned, painted digitally, and then digitally combined with scans of hand-painted backgrounds. Whereas Disney’s 1937 multiplane camera—used to create the illusion of depth—allowed for only five layers of artwork, the levels and size of artwork that could be combined in CAPS were near infinite. An additional advantage to CAPS was that hand-drawn animation could be combined with a computer-generated environment entirely in the digital realm, thereby negating the need for an optical printer (and its generational loss—rather like a photocopy of a photocopy), a film-based image compositing device in use since the 1920s.
During early production meetings for Beauty and the Beast discussions of how and where computer-generated environments might be incorporated resulted in two possibilities. The first was the forest surrounding the Beast’s castle. Experiments in constructing CG trees proved that the technology simply wasn’t there yet to create a convincing forest that felt of an organic part with the overall look and atmosphere of the film. The second possibility, posed by story supervisor Roger Allers and story artist Brenda Chapman, was to fabricate an entirely computer-generated ballroom for the sequence containing the song “Beauty and the Beast.” This felicitous idea worked well for several reasons.
Because the filmmakers acknowledged that the look of a CG ballroom would be different from the rest of the film, they felt that the idea of it being bookended—Belle and the Beast enter, and then leave this unique world—would help ease audiences into and out of the computer-generated space. And because of the success of Roger Rabbit’s animators in working with fluid camera moves, the development of CAPS, and the almost limitless possibilities of camera movements available in the realm of a CG environment, Allers and Chapman approached the storyboards for the ballroom sequence with few constraints.
The otherness of the ballroom also worked well with the heightened emotional moment that takes place during Mrs. Potts’ rendition of lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken’s song “Beauty and the Beast.” Though no words are spoken between them, Belle and the Beast are finally able to communicate their deep and abiding love for one another. (In Howard Ashman’s early notes outlining the characters in Beauty and the Beast he compared the Beast to Yul Brynner as the King of Siam in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I. In this musical the two leads, the King of Siam and schoolteacher Anna Leonowens, discover how much they care for one another in the show-stopping polka “Shall We Dance?” Though “Beauty and the Beast” is a slow ballad, not a brisk polka, the tradition of falling in love while dancing remains a tried and true one.)
In traditional animation a pencil test is made of an animator’s rough drawings to assess the success of a scene before the it is cleaned up, inked, and painted. In computer animation a vector test, or wire-frame test similarly allows a scene to be assessed in bare bones outlines before being redone or fully rendered. In order to guide animator James Baxter, who would animate Belle and the Beast, two proxy figures were incorporated into the wire-frame test, with Belle resembling a nothing so much as a bishop from a Staunton chess set, and the Beast looking like an oversized gourd (acquiring the nickname “watermelon man”). Once the camera moves were approved, the wire-frame test was printed onto animation paper as a guide for Baxter, who began animating the two lead characters. Producer Don Hahn has commented more than once on how Baxter’s brain had a computer-like ability to figure out how to animate Belle and the Beast in a constantly-changing perspective. Even the animation in the remarkable high-angle down shot of J. Worthington Foulfellow, Gideon, and Pinocchio in the song “An Actor’s Life for Me” in Pinocchio pales by comparison to the constantly shifting sightlines presented to Baxter. While Baxter toiled away with his challenge, the CGI department worked to fully develop the skin of marble, wood, gold, and material that would turn the ballroom into a three-dimensional reality.
Drawing inspiration from a painting by background artist Doug Ball, and art director Brian McEntee’s regal color scheme of gold and blue, Scott F. Johnston, working with Jim Hillin, M.J. Turner, and Tom Cardone, built the ballroom using, among other software, RenderMan®, newly developed by PIXAR. Every detail was attended to, from the candles on the wall, to the marble floor, to the crystals hanging from the chandelier, to the lion faces atop the columns, and the blue bunting draped about the room. A fresco of cherubs on the ceiling was created by scanning a hand-painted background and then texture mapping it onto the CG dome of the chamber so that it felt like an organic part of the world of the ballroom. As the CG elements began to fall into place a 1K grayscale rough render, with James Baxter’s rough animation of Belle and the Beast, was produced. This was followed by another pass incorporating Baxter’s cleaned up animation. And finally a high-resolution 2K color version was fully rendered. Each frame included multiple elements: the main room, the floor, reflections in the floor, the characters, tones and shadows on the characters, and even the characters’ reflections in the floor. The time it took a computer to render a single frame took from four to six hours. At one point the filmmakers were concerned that the CG ballroom might not be completed in time; their backup plan was to simply have Belle and the Beast dancing in a spotlight, surrounded by darkness. (This was referred to as the Ice Capades version.) Fortunately, the CGI department was able to fully render the sequence in time. One additional element was added in post-production: certain shots contained a slight depth-of-field element, which mimicked a live-action camera lens by throwing the background slightly out-of-focus and causing the animation of Belle and the Beast to “pop.” The overall effect contributed to Allers and Chapman’s original idea to give the ballroom sequence more of a live-action feel. The ballroom was constructed over the course of two years, with the majority of the work done in the final nine months.
As Scott F. Johnston said, “Howard Ashman and Alan Menken set it up, Angela Lansbury knocked it out of the park, and we just needed to do them justice; we had to rise to their level of excellence.” They definitely did and 25 years after its release, Beauty and the Beast and its remarkable ballroom remain “ever a surprise.”
Special thanks to Don Hahn, Scott F. Johnston, John Carnochan, and Larry Leker.
Fans of Alias recall that in virtually every episode, our heroine, double-agent Sydney Bristow, would go undercover in a foreign country to stop the bad guys, help the good guys, and save the world. But what people may not realize is that many of those foreign countries were actually scenes shot on the Walt Disney Studios Lot in Burbank! As the ABC hit celebrates its 15th anniversary, we look at a few spots on the lot used when filming the show—both as they appeared on the series and as they look today.
Here we see Sydney (Jennifer Garner) going to blows with an enemy. This was actually shot in the Frank G. Wells Building, home to the Walt Disney Archives!
Arvin Sloane (Ron Rifkin) spend a great deal of time waffling between good and evil, even when it came to his daughter Nadia (Mia Maestro). Here the two sit on a bench—one of many on the Disney lot—next to the Team Disney Building.
Jennifer Garner looks great in this promotional shot for the show, which was taken in a hallway of the original Animation Building.
Members of D23 get to see these “Alias areas”—and many more—when taking tours of the Studio lot. Check under D23 Events for when the next tour will take place.
Red wig. Black leather pants. Lots of butt-kicking. Fifteen years ago this television season, Alias burst onto ABC and sent pulses rising with its heart-stopping action, twisty plotlines, and a never-ending parade of wild costumes. The show, which filmed on the Disney lot, made Merrin Dungey a familiar face to fans as Francie, best friend to Jennifer Garner’s double-agent Sydney. As the show took unexpected shocking turn after unexpected shocking turn, Francie was murdered by Alison Doren, who (in another unexpected shocking turn) had become Francie’s doppelgänger—thanks to some genetic enhancements. Dungey accepted the challenge of playing both roles—and ended up with some very funny stories to tell in the process. Since then, Dungey has been a familiar face on ABC and Freeform with roles on Revenge, Chasing Life, Once Upon a Time, and now as former detective Maxine Bohen opposite Marvel’s Agent Carter’s Hayley Atwell on Conviction, where they are part of a team set to the task of turning over cases where there is credible suspicion of wrongful conviction. We caught up with the actress to look back on some of her favorite moments filming Alias, why fans of that groundbreaking show will love Conviction, and being a member of the Disney family.
Can you believe it’s been 15 years since Alias premiered? Merrin Dungey (MD): I try not to think about how long ago it was, thank you. They think you’re a billion years old. [Laughs]
It was really a show that established ABC as being a great home for strong female characters. MD: One hundred percent. You have that and Once [Upon a Time] and Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy—and even Desperate Housewives.
And now you’re on another show featuring powerful women—Conviction. MD: [Atwell’s character] Hayes is a force to be reckoned with, that one. She’s a beast and gets more spicy as the episodes go on.
Your character is strong as well. MD: Totally. My character is kind of an anchor to a lot of things—she’s somewhat detective and sort of the pragmatist, seeing things from the cop angle. I’m just like brass tacks—don’t mess with me!
What are some of your favorite memories Alias? MD: Getting the part and meeting [Alias creator] J.J. Abrams and what a joy he is—and how excited I was. It was something completely different and fresh. [Alias] opened the doors for so many different things and still does. It opened the door to Once Upon a Time even. J.J. saw something in me that nobody else sees. I remember at the Upfronts [where networks annually present shows to advertisers] he asked, “Do you know how to fight?” I said, “Nah.” He said, “Learn,” and walked away. I ran over to Jennifer and said, “What do I do?” And she said, “Go to this guy.” So I did, and I trained for a year for that one fight [where Sydney and Francie/Alison come to blows in their apartment]. But I was ready. There’s a moment in the fight when I jump over the counter and kick her in the pipes. They told me they were prepping a stunt double for it. I said, “No, no, no, no. I can do this!” I ran onto the set, and J.J. looks at me and Jennifer looks at me and they’re like, “Don’t ruin Jennifer’s face.” And we did it, and we got it in one take and everyone applauded. And Jen was like, “There was wind across my face when your foot went by!”
Do you have a favorite line? MD: “Francie doesn’t like coffee ice cream.” At least once a month I get that. And by the way, Merrin doesn’t like coffee ice cream either.
When D23 gives tours to members on the Studio lot, we pass many places where Alias filmed. Do you have memories of shooting on the lot? MD: I remember I was meeting Ron Rifkin [Arvin Sloan] somewhere in, like, Czechoslovakia and I’m in some big fur, smoking cigarettes. But it was outdoors at the commissary by the Disney Store. Oh, and the day I kill myself [When Alison/Francie shoots real Francie], I had to go pick up something for Christmas at the Disney Store and I had a bullet hole in my forehead. And I just remember everyone’s going, “What!?”
Do you remember when J.J. told you that you were going to “kill yourself”? MD: I’m so glad [Francie] died. She was so boring. She was the apex of a best friend character. So it was great because it gave everybody something fun to play. It gave me fun things to wear. It gave me fun things to do.
Wow, you took it really well! MD: I’ve always been a huge fan of crime shows and that sort of thing. My sister and I used to audiotape Charlie’s Angels—a real audiotape with a tape recorder. And we would listen to it over and over and play Charlie’s Angels on our Schwinn bikes.
You went on to play a very iconic Disney character recently on Once Upon a Time—Ursula. MD: That is truly because of Alias. I got a call from my manager, who told me [Once Upon a Time creators] Adam [Horowitz] and Eddy [Kitsis] were going call to see if I wanted to play Ursula. And I was floored. What an incredible opportunity and what an incredible character. They said they were big fans of Alias. And when they said it was with Cruella and Maleficent and they’re going to be the Queens of Darkness—boy, was that so much fun. It was the most fun I’ve had in years.
Were you a fan of The Little Mermaid? MD: I’m quite familiar with The Little Mermaid. I’m a Disney fan through and through. But to play any one of the Disney characters, particularly one of the bad guys, is a huge honor.
Do you have a favorite Disney memory? MD: I remember when I was a kid, every Sunday at 7:00 we would watch the Wonderful World of Disney. And that was family time. It was so happy and creative and beautiful. I think that’s the coolest thing about having Once Upon a Time on Sunday—there are so many fans who are kids. When I was playing Ursula and I went to school to pick up my daughter and go to her parent‑teacher conference, I was mobbed by children. Mobbed. And my daughter comes over and she’s like, “Ugh, Mom!” But it’s a show that parents can watch with their kids. It’s a terrific callback to the glory days and Wonderful World of Disney. So, I’m glad that all kind of comes full circle.
With all your work, do you feel like a member of the Disney family? MD: I really do. It always feels like I’m coming home when I’ve worked for ABC and Disney. When my sister and I were little, my mom would have to buy us each a copy of TV Guide. And ABC was always my favorite. Tuesday nights ABC had Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley and Three’s Company and Too Close for Comfort, [then there was also] Charlie’s Angels, Love Boat, Fantasy Island, and Moonlighting. ABC was always my favorite—always, always. And then being on Alias, Better Off Ted, Revenge, Betrayal, Once Upon a Time, and now Conviction… That’s a lot of ABC. And [Chasing Life on] Freeform!
So what do you think fans of Alias will love about Conviction? MD: Well, obviously there’s a strong female role model in the centerpiece. Sydney was flawed in different ways than Hayes is. Sydney set about saving the world in different ways, and Hayes is saving lives another way, but they are both giving people hope. If you like exciting, strong‑willed, powerful women, you will love this show.
I feel like the writers need to give Maxine a line about coffee ice cream. MD: We should do that for the fans. If I can find a way to fit it in there, I will—152 percent! There’s gotta be a moment. Like I’m just out with Sam (Shawn Ashmore), doing something and we’re looking at a cone, and I just say, “I don’t like coffee ice cream.”
This story was originally published in the Summer 2010 issue of Disney twenty-three. If you like what you read, become a D23 Gold Member to receive the Disney twenty-three quarterly publication for more fascinating stories about all the worlds of Disney.
Imagine living at Walt Disney World years before construction on the property even began. Here’s the story of the family who did just that, back when the Resort was but a twinkle in Walt’s eye.
The moon casts its spellbinding light into the bedroom window as the sounds of crickets and other swamp bugs resonate through the humid air. Stepping outside onto the back porch, you find yourself hidden in the shadows cast by hundreds of trees in an impenetrable wilderness.
This was no ordinary house, nor an ordinary place. In the years to come, this lonely swath of swampland would become the Walt Disney World Resort. But years before the turrets of Cinderella Castle soared into the infinite blue of the Orlando sky, Philip N. Smith and his family called this place home.
Phil Smith, the first Cast Member of the Walt Disney World Resort, lived with his family on this rustic, undeveloped Disney property from 1966 to 1968.
One of the least known and most intriguing chapters of the Walt Disney World story began in 1963, when Smith received a phone call from Hal Butts, a former law school colleague. Butts worked for the Miami-based law firm of Helliwell, Melrose, and DeWolf, and asked Smith if he’d be interested in a new opening at the firm. “I interviewed, and Tom DeWolf offered me a position,” Smith explained. “Instead, I chose to take a position in the General Counsel’s Office of the Panama Canal Company.”
Although he turned down the offer, Smith had impressed DeWolf enough that the law firm flew the University of Miami graduate back from Panama in the fall of 1965 to interview him for a house counsel position. By this time, the firm had bewildered the Sunshine State with its acquisition of thousands of acres of Central Florida swampland for a mystery project. “But they couldn’t tell me who was purchasing the land because they hadn’t made the announcement yet,” Smith remembered.
He returned to Panama with his interest piqued. Attempting to discover who was behind the project, he scoured lawyer directories from northeastern states (not thinking to check California’s.) Then, on a memorable October day, Smith read the now-famous headline in a Florida newspaper, “We Say: ‘Mystery’ Industry Is Disney.” Smith excitedly accepted the Florida position and arrived in Miami on November 8, 1965.
One week later, Walt Disney, his brother Roy, and Governor Haydon Burns came to the newly energized town of Orlando to announce preliminary plans for their yet unnamed Florida project. How would you like to have been Phil Smith that evening, sitting across from Walt at a ceremonial dinner? “It was really a thrill,” Smith said. “Here I was, the new kid on the block, and I’m dining with Walt Disney.”
Roy Disney, Joe Potter, Bob Foster, Bill Hart, Joe Fowler, and Walt gather at the Smiths’ house in 1965. (Man to the right of Walt is unidentified).
Although Walt had carefully surveyed the central Florida acreage by low-flying plane, he wouldn’t explore his company’s five-million-dollar purchase by foot until that November visit. With the help of a specially graded road that allowed access to Bay Lake, Walt, Smith, and a band of executives spent hours traversing the vast virgin land that would become the foundation for the creative genius’ most daring visions.
The following February, Smith opened Disney’s downtown Orlando office, marked with the name “Compass East Corporation,” the original name for the Walt Disney World Company. Smith, the first Cast Member of the Resort, handled a spectrum of legal concerns vital to the land’s development.
But with hard work came a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Just north of Black Lake, on one of the purchased land parcels on the property’s eastern end, was a ranch-style house formerly owned by Carl Bronson, a member of a highly influential Florida family. Walt and his staff stopped to rest on the structure’s front porch during their November visit, but little did Smith expect Bob Foster, the chief architect of Disney’s land acquisition, to invite the young lawyer to live there as its resident counsel.
Walt rests on Phil’s future front porch while exploring the new Disney property in 1965.
“He thought it would be a good idea to have somebody located on the property,” Smith recounted. And so in June 1966, the Smiths packed up and moved to the isolated acres that would soon be home to Walt Disney World, which at the time was more like Thoreau’s Walden than any sort of resort destination. “But it was nice for the kids,” Smith continued, “because they certainly had plenty of room to play.”
The Move to Nowhere
How did it feel to move out to the middle of nowhere? “Lonely,” Phil’s wife, Gwen, once said. “Lucky,” Smith countered.
Bay Lake, pictured above in the late 1960s, is still lined with many of the original old-growth cypress trees that are a hallmark of the natural Florida land. Today, we traverse the lake by boat and ferry to experience Magic Kingdom Park and its surrounding resorts, but for the Smiths, Bay Lake was a place for family dinners and private excursions to Riles Island.
The Smiths’ new home was situated near the eventual site of the Lake Buena Vista Club and what is now Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa. Aside from a handful of nearby houses outside the Disney property, the family lived in virtual isolation. “It felt a little strange out there. So absolutely quiet at night. And just as dark as sin,” Smith once described. Shopping and errands would have to be done miles away, in cities like Winter Garden.
The site might also have proved inconvenient for those attending the Smiths’ backyard wedding reception. But it also made for some laughs. “Since it was so far out in the middle of nowhere,” Smith said with a smile, “we posted a sign leading up to the house that read, ‘Would you believe?’ and it pointed in the direction of our home!” Two unlit dirt roads, connecting to the main county road, were the only access points to the sole habitable structure on the 43-square-mile landscape.
In a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, the Smiths moved into a house situated on the vast Disney acreage, nestled just west of Black Lake. The homestead also included a plane hangar and airstrip, which were once used by former homeowner Carl Bronson to give flying lessons.
Despite its remoteness, the Smiths’ rent-free residence—which included three bedrooms, living and family rooms, a terrazzo-floored kitchen, laundry room, garage, and gorgeous lake view—treated the family well.
At least most of the time. While Smith worked in the Orlando office some 15 miles away, Gwen faced unsettling incidents back home, where she took care of Chris, age 3, and Jeanie, 4. Take, for instance, the old airplane hangar and accompanying airstrip next door: You might imagine how shocked she was when she found the Highway Patrol landing its plane in her backyard.
The Smiths also welcomed a few new family members onto their land. Using a nearby shed as a stall, the family adopted a horse and two Mexican burros from Frank Hubbard, who managed the prominent Hubbard Construction Company. “We used to ride the horse, and every once in a while, one of the burros would get out of the fenced area. We had a heck of a time trying to get it back!” Smith laughed.
Keepers of the Kingdom
Endless expanses of trees. Knee-deep swamps. Fields of orange groves. Stretches of pastureland. These words only begin to describe the 27,443 acres of rustic land that the Smiths called their backyard. “We used to go to different parts of the property just to see it,” Smith remembered. “And down into the south end, there were some beautiful hummocks with hardwood trees.”
Riles Island, seen here in 1967, was situated in the middle of Bay Lake and frequented by the Smiths. It would open to Walt Disney World Resort guests as Treasure Island (later Discovery Island).
After Disney’s purchase of Riles Island, which was formerly owned by a group of local campers, the Smiths made weekend rowboat trips to picnic in the natural wonderland. If this island sounds familiar, you’ve probably guessed its eventual incarnation: Discovery Island.
Knowing the ins and outs of the landscape better than anyone else, Smith hosted key executives on a property twice the size of Manhattan, throwing back-porch parties and leading wild Jeep rides across the rugged terrain. On one particular Thanksgiving, Donn Tatum, a member of the board of directors and soon-to-be president of Walt Disney Productions, joined the Smiths for a holiday dinner on a float boat on Bay Lake.
But a particularly harrowing experience took place when Smith chauffeured Walt, his wife, Lillian, and a potential CalArts beneficiary from the airport: “At one point, we suddenly hit a low place in the road and all of us bounced off the ceiling of the car,” Smith explained. “It was terrible! There wasn’t much said the rest of the way but later, Joe Potter [who oversaw construction of the property’s infrastructure as vice president of Florida Planning] came up to me and said, ‘I don’t know, but you may be in trouble.’ It was probably one of the worst nights I’ve ever spent.”
The next day, everyone who had heard of the incident kept their distance from Smith. “But when Walt came into the office, he patted me on the shoulder and said, ‘Hey, don’t worry about last night. These other people get more excited about things like that than I do.’” Smith was more than relieved when it came time for Walt to return to the airport: “When we were deciding who would ride with whom, Walt volunteered to ride with me—but the ladies didn’t!”
As part of his visit to the Florida site in November 1965, a 63-year-old Walt Disney (center) explores the newly acquired land with brother Roy (left) and Vice President of Marketing and future President of Walt Disney Productions Card Walker (right).
In later years, Smith worked next to Roy O. Disney’s Florida office in the original Walt Disney World administration building. “Roy was just the nicest, most down-to-earth, fatherly kind of person,” Smith gushed, remembering the time he hosted the Disney leader and his wife, Edna, for dinner. “At one point he gave me a Klaxon for my MG Midget, which he really enjoyed taking rides in.”
Back to the Real World
In November 1968, after two years of calling the Disney property home, the Smiths gave up the best backyard they could ask for and moved to the nearby town of Windermere. Smith continued to head the legal department until 1985, then became Senior Vice President of Administration and Support. The very first Walt Disney World Cast Member retired in December 1992, and made the occasional trip to the old homestead. “It has grown so much,” Smith reflected. “When I go out there anymore, I don’t know where I am half the time… there are so many roads!”
The Smiths’ house, relocated elsewhere at Walt Disney World, has been converted into an environmental lab. The Smiths kept an old chimney brick from the house after it was remodeled.
Smith passed away in February 2016 at age 83, after years of cherishing memories of the early days. “I don’t think anyone else—or few people—have gone through what I have, seeing this thing from nothing to what it is now. What an experience!”
